This page lists every Google Search ranking update this section documents, newest first. It starts with Panda in 2010 and ends with the August 2026 spam update.
From 2023 the rows come from Google's Search Status Dashboard, with Google's own durations. Before 2023 they come from Google's announcements and, where marked, community names Google never confirmed.
For today's status see Is Google updating right now?. For live coverage see the Google Updates tracker.
2026
6 updates (2 core, 3 spam, 1 Discover core).
Every confirmed update of 2026 with Google's own durations. The 2026 page adds the year's entries and rollout notes.
| Started | Completed | Update | Type | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2026 spam update | Spam | Global, all languages; does not target link spam or site reputation abuse | |||
| June 2026 spam update | Spam | Global, all languages; "a normal spam update" per Google | |||
| May 2026 core update | Core | Second core update of 2026; heavy volatility reported | |||
| March 2026 core update | Core | First classic core update of 2026 | |||
| March 2026 spam update | Spam | Fastest rollout ever documented on the dashboard | |||
| February 2026 Discover core update | Discover core | First-ever Discover core update; US English only |
2025
4 updates (3 core, 1 spam).
Every confirmed update of 2025 with Google's own durations. The 2025 page adds the year's entries and rollout notes.
| Started | Completed | Update | Type | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2025 core update | Core | Third and final core update of 2025 | |||
| August 2025 spam update | Spam | Only spam update of 2025; unusually long rollout | |||
| June 2025 core update | Core | Second core update of 2025 | |||
| March 2025 core update | Core | First core update of 2025 |
2024
7 updates (4 core, 3 spam).
Every confirmed update of 2024 with Google's own durations. The 2024 page adds the year's entries and rollout notes.
| Started | Completed | Update | Type | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2024 spam update | Spam | Launched the day after the December core completed | |||
| December 2024 core update | Core | Began one week after the November core completed | |||
| November 2024 core update | Core | ||||
| August 2024 core update | Core | Took in feedback from sites hit by the September 2023 helpful content update | |||
| June 2024 spam update | Spam | ||||
| March 2024 core update | Core | Longest core rollout on record; absorbed the helpful content system into core; Google cited ~45% less unhelpful content | |||
| March 2024 spam update | Spam | Came with new policies: expired domain abuse, scaled content abuse, site reputation abuse |
2023
9 updates (4 core, 1 spam, 3 reviews, 1 helpful content).
Every confirmed update of 2023 with Google's own durations. The 2023 page adds the year's entries and rollout notes.
| Started | Completed | Update | Type | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2023 reviews update | Reviews | Last announced reviews update; changes are continuous since | |||
| November 2023 core update | Core | Improved a different core system than October, per Google | |||
| October 2023 core update | Core | Overlapped the October spam update | |||
| October 2023 spam update | Spam | Cloaking, hacked, auto-generated and scraped spam | |||
| September 2023 helpful content update | Helpful content | The last standalone helpful content update | |||
| August 2023 core update | Core | ||||
| April 2023 reviews update | Reviews | Product reviews system broadened to services, destinations and media | |||
| March 2023 core update | Core | ||||
| February 2023 product reviews update | Product reviews | First reviews update beyond English (11 languages) |
2022
9 updates (2 core, 2 spam, 3 reviews, 2 helpful content).
Named updates of 2022. Each one links to its own page.
| Started | Completed | Update | Type | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2022 link spam update | Spam | SpamBrain used to neutralize spammy links at scale (completed 12th Jan 2023) | |||
| December 2022 helpful content update | Helpful content | Helpful content system extended to all languages globally | |||
| October 2022 spam update | Spam | Global spam-detection improvement | |||
| September 2022 product reviews update | Reviews | Fifth product reviews update | |||
| September 2022 core update | Core | Broad core update | |||
| Helpful content update (original) | Helpful content | New site-wide classifier demoting content made for search engines rather than people; English first | |||
| July 2022 product reviews update | Reviews | Fourth product reviews update | |||
| May 2022 core update | Core | Broad core update | |||
| March 2022 product reviews update | Reviews | Third product reviews update |
2021
9 updates (3 core, 3 spam, 1 reviews, 2 other).
Named updates of 2021. Each one links to its own page.
| Started | Completed | Update | Type | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2021 core update | Core | Broad core update | |||
| November 2021 spam update | Spam | Spam-detection improvement | |||
| Link spam update | Spam | Nullified spammy links, including affiliate and sponsored-link abuse | |||
| July 2021 core update | Core | Second part of the June 2021 core work | |||
| June 2021 spam updates | Spam | Two-part spam release (23rd and 28th Jun) | |||
| Page experience rollout | Other | Core Web Vitals became ranking signals on mobile (desktop followed February 2022) | |||
| June 2021 core update | Core | Broad core update, explicitly split across June and July | |||
| MUM announced | Other | Multitask Unified Model announced at I/O; features promised over the coming months and years | |||
| Product reviews update (original) | Reviews | First update rewarding in-depth, first-hand product reviews |
2020
3 updates (3 core).
Named updates of 2020. Each one links to its own page.
| Started | Completed | Update | Type | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2020 core update | Core | Broad core update | |||
| May 2020 core update | Core | Unusually large pandemic-era core update | |||
| January 2020 core update | Core | Broad core update |
2019
4 updates (3 core, 1 other).
Named updates of 2019. Each one links to its own page.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| BERT | Other | Natural-language model applied to ranking and featured snippets; about 10% of English queries at launch | |
| September 2019 core update | Core | Broad core update | |
| June 2019 core update | Core | First core update announced before it began | |
| March 2019 core update | Core | Broad core update (community name "Florida 2") |
2018
4 updates (3 core, 1 other).
Named updates of 2018. Each one links to its own page.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medic (August 2018 core update) | Core | Broad core update that hit health and other YMYL sites especially hard; the community name stuck | |
| April 2018 core update | Core | Early confirmed broad core update | |
| March 2018 core update | Core | Early confirmed broad core update (community name "Brackets") | |
| Speed Update announced (effective July 2018) | Other | Page speed became a ranking factor for mobile searches, affecting only the slowest pages |
2017
1 update (1 other).
Named updates of 2017. Each one links to its own page.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fred (never confirmed) | Other | Community-named shakeup that appeared to hit ad-heavy, low-value content sites |
2016
3 updates (1 spam, 2 other).
Named updates of 2016. Each one links to its own page.
| Started | Completed | Update | Type | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile-first indexing begins | Other | Experiments began in November 2016; Google declared the migration complete on 31st Oct 2023 | |||
| Penguin 4.0 | Spam | Penguin became real-time and part of the core algorithm; demotions became granular | |||
| Possum (never confirmed) | Other | Community-named local ranking shakeup filtering same-area listings |
2015
2 updates (2 other).
The named majors of 2015, as Google announced them or as the community named them. Community names are marked.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| RankBrain | Other | Machine-learning system for interpreting queries, confirmed as a top ranking signal | |
| Mobile-friendly update ("Mobilegeddon") | Other | Mobile-friendliness became a ranking signal on mobile searches |
2014
2 updates (2 other).
The named majors of 2014, as Google announced them or as the community named them. Community names are marked.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| HTTPS ranking boost | Other | HTTPS became a lightweight positive ranking signal | |
| Pigeon (never confirmed) | Other | Community name; local results tied more closely to traditional web ranking signals |
2013
1 update (1 other).
The named majors of 2013, as Google announced them or as the community named them. Community names are marked.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hummingbird | Other | Rewrite of the core ranking engine for conversational and semantic queries |
2012
2 updates (2 spam).
The named majors of 2012, as Google announced them or as the community named them. Community names are marked.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pirate update | Spam | Valid copyright removal notices became a ranking signal; community name | |
| Penguin | Spam | Crackdown on link schemes and webspam; recovery required cleaning link profiles |
2011
2 updates (2 other).
The named majors of 2011, as Google announced them or as the community named them. Community names are marked.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshness update | Other | Expanded query-deserves-freshness ranking; Google said it noticeably affected about 35% of searches | |
| Panda | Other | Content-quality classifier against thin, low-value content; later absorbed into core |
2010
1 update (1 other).
The named majors of 2010, as Google announced them or as the community named them. Community names are marked.
| Date | Update | Type | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caffeine (new indexing system) | Other | New web indexing system: 50 percent fresher results; an index change, not a ranking change |
Sources
Frequently asked questions
How many Google algorithm updates have there been?
This page lists 69 named or confirmed updates from 2010 to 2026, 27 of them core updates.
Google also ships thousands of smaller changes a year that it never names. No list of named updates counts every change.
What was the first Google core update?
Google began confirming "broad core algorithm updates" under that name in March 2018. The March 2018 core update is the first row here with that label.
Earlier named updates such as Panda and Penguin targeted specific problems. Google later folded them into its core systems.
Which Google update took the longest to roll out?
The March 2024 core update, at 45 days by Google's own record. The fastest was the March 2026 spam update, at 19 hrs 30 min.
Which updates did Google never confirm?
3 rows are marked "never confirmed": community names for ranking shifts Google did not announce. They are listed because the names are in wide use, not because Google verified them.
Compiled by Claude from primary sources, checked by Akash Mansukhani before publication. See how we source and correct this page.Keywords Everywhere, "Google algorithm update history", last updated 6th Sep 2026, https://keywordseverywhere.com/news/google-algorithm-updates/history/